The Winds of Change
by bloodytears87
Summary: Ace, Sabo and Luffy are living along in the forest. The Whitebeard Pirates come to the island to get out of a bad storm and to resupply the ship where they discover the boys. rated T for later chapters.
1. Prologue

**Title: The Winds of Change**

**Summery: Ace, Sabo and Luffy are living on their own. The Whitebeard Pirates come to the island to get out of a storm and re-supply their ship on their way and discover the boys.**

* * *

Prologue

The sky was raging black as thunder and lightening lit up the night. No one was outside, shut inside taking shelter from the storm in their cozy homes, sleeping. Everything was silence aside from the odd crashes of thunder in the distance. All accept a small tree house deep in the mountains, outside of Fuusha Village and past the Gray Terminal where two young boys tried to calm their distraught little brother.

Luffy hated thunderstorms, he always had and even though he was now made of rubber and lightening couldn't hurt him he just couldn't let go of the fear that each loud boom in the distance made.

"Shh, Lu," Ace tried to soothe as he rocked Luffy in his arms. Sabo was trying to distract the seven year old with stories but it only worked until the next roar of thunder hit. "You're so weak," Ace told him but it was half hearted. He wasn't used to this. He had never had to comfort another before Luffy came along. Luffy was their brother now though and he was just going to have to learn how to calm him down.

Sabo eventually gave up on trying to distract the boy and settled in beside Ace and Luffy. Ace laid down with Luffy between them and all night they spoke words of comfort to their little brother until he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Outside a bit farther away, just on the shore came a huge ship that looked like a whale, looking for a place to dock in the terrible storm.

"There's an island just up ahead!" Marco; the first division commander shouted over the howling winds.

"That's the Goa Kingdom isn't it?" another crew member asked as he squinted to see the island through the heavy rain.

"It would appear so," Marco agreed before turning to their captain. "Should we try to dock there, Pops?"

"If I remember correctly there's a small village on this island, Fuusha I believe that's protected by Vice-admiral Garp."

"Garp the fist?" someone asked, their eyes wide.

"Yes, it's his home town if memory serves," Whitebeard said thoughtfully. "There's no saying that he's here or not. Either way I'd rather not have to deal with the marines, We'll drop anchor away from the village."

"Sure thing, Pops," Marco said before going off to let their navigator know where they were headed.

Not long after, the Moby Dick was pulled up as close to the island as they could be before dropping anchor. They were instructed to stay on the ship until the morning so the majority of the crew went down to their cabins to catch some sleep so they would be ready to explore the island in the morning and gather their supplies.

* * *

The brothers didn't know what that ship would bring and the ships crew were unaware of what they were stumbling upon by going there, they just knew that somewhere deep inside, they could feel the winds of change.

* * *

**AN: I know it's pretty short but it's just the prologue. Reviews are appreciated. I'd like to know what you all think and if should continue you this. I know there's a lot of ASL story's out there but I can't help it I love the idea of the three growing up together so I had to write one of my own. Also I'm looking for a beta reader for this story and another One Piece one I'm working on. If anyone knows a good beta or would like to help me please PM me I'd appreciate it.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

* * *

"Marco!" Thatch called as he came out of the kitchen, looking for the 1st division commander. He just finished cleaning up from breakfast and now he was itching to do a little island exploration.

"What is it, yoi?" the blond haired commander asked as he turned his lazy looking eyes to Thatch.

"I'm going to go check out the island, maybe pick up some edible wild fruits and vegetables for the stores along the way," Thatch told him.

"And you don't want to go alone, yoi?" Marco guessed with a smirk.

"Please," Thatch said, giving Marco his best puppy dog expression which only caused the blonde haired man to laugh at him.

"I was planning to check out the island anyway," he informed the fourth division commander, who was just about to resort to begging. "Let's go, yoi," he said before jumping over the side of the ship, into a life boat that he had already lowered into the water.

"You jerk!" Thatch yelled as he jumped after him. "You could have just told me instead of making me resort to that."

"But it's so much watching you make a fool of yourself, yoi," Marco told him, still smirking.

"Very funny," Thatch huffed as they rowed to shore.

They pulled the boat up on the beach once they reached land. Thatch looked around, noticing that the place was pretty deserted.

"Think anyone lives on this side of the island?" he asked Marco, seeing the blonde observing their surroundings as well.

"Who knows," he said with a shrug. They started to walk along the beach until they started a path that went upwards into the forest. Just then they saw some movement in the bushes and quiet, frantic whispering.

"Oi! Some one here?" Thatch called out. Suddenly the voice stopped along with the rustling.

"Now look what you've done, Luffy," an angry voice whispered. There was a thudding noise followed by a groan of pain. Marco figured that whoever this Luffy person was, he had just been hit.

"We can hear you, yoi," Marco called out lazily. Almost silent curses followed soon after.

"You heard nothing," a childish voice trying to make it self sound deeper said. "This is just a figment of your imagination."

"Whoa! Really, Sabo!?" another more high pitched voice called out in excitement.

"Shut up, idiot!" the angry voice from earlier hissed and another thud was heard.

"Ow, that hurt…"

Thatch was beyond amused; cautiously he walked over to the bushes and peeked over the top to see three boys, two who looked older then the third.

"Well, hello there," he said with a smile.

"Hello~" the smaller called out with wide grin on his face. That earned him two more whacks from his friends.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?" the older raven haired boy asked rudely, glaring up at Thatch.

"It's good manors to give your own name before asking someone else's," the fourth division commander replied, good naturedly.

"Whatever," the boy sneered.

"I'm Luffy!" the smallest boy proclaimed. "I'm gonna be king of the pirates!" Thatch couldn't help but laugh, that little boy sure had some spirit.

"Are you now?" he asked with a smile. "Well then, my name's Thatch."

"Hey mister, are you a pirate?" Luffy asked, his eyes wide with childish wonderment.

"Sure am," Thatch told him. "So is that guy over there," he said pointing to Marco who was just standing back and observing at that point.

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Luffy shouted while the other two boys groaned.

"Oi, come on, Luffy," the raven haired boy called, deciding they had stuck around long enough. Thatch could tell that he was really uncomfortable around them, though he wasn't entirely sure that it was because they were pirates.

"But I wanna talk to the pirates!" Luffy whined. Both boys gave him a stern look. He seemed to know what that meant and sighed. "I guess I have to go, see you around!" he said with a wave before running off after his brothers.

"Strange kids," Marco mused as he watched them go. "And you didn't even ask if they knew the best place to get food, yoi."

"Shit!" Thatch face palmed as he realized he should have. "Oh well, it wouldn't be exploring if we asked for help right?" Marco smirked in amusement as the two made their way into the forest.

* * *

"Come on, Luffy! Keep up!" Sabo shouted as their little brother once again was distracted by the forest's various insects. He could swear that Luffy's attention span was way too short, even if he was only seven. He knew that there was no way he was like that when he was Luffy's age. Then again, he hadn't been set free in the mountain at the age of seven like Luffy had.

"Just leave him," Ace sighed as he continued to walk on, metal pipe slung over his shoulder, looking every bit the tough guy. "He'll catch back up eventually." Sabo sighed at that, but he was hungry so he nodded and went off with Ace to catch their lunch, leaving Luffy to himself. He may not have been as strong as them but he seemed to have the devil's luck on his side. Though he didn't really want to when he knew those pirates from earlier that morning were around so he walked slowly, trying to hold Ace up.

Luffy hadn't really noticed his brother's leaving him behind. He was too interested in the dragonfly that was flying around to pay attention to anything else. So when the bug had finally flown off, Luffy was confused to find himself a lone.

"Sabo? Ace?" he called out but received no answer. Pouting at being left behind, Luffy headed in the way he thought they had been walking before he took an interest in the dragonfly. He had really wanted to talk to Thatch more. Pirates were so cool. He wondered if they were like Shanks and his crew. They definitely didn't seem to be mean, like the Bluejam pirates had been. He really hoped he did see Thatch and that pineapple looking guy later, because they seemed like they could be a lot of fun. Maybe if he bugged Ace and Sabo enough they'd let him go looking for them. With that thought in mind he raced off to find his brothers.

Surprisingly it didn't take him long to catch up to them. They were standing in a clearing just up ahead, looking like they were waiting for something.

"Sabo! Ace!" he called as he ran up to them. "Why'd you leave me behind?!" he started ranting.

"Just shut up, Luffy," Ace told him, still staring into the forest just ahead of them.

"It's coming," Sabo said as he gripped his pipe tighter.

"Huh? What's coming?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side curiously before hearing the low growling coming from the forest.

* * *

Thatch and Marco ended up finding an old man down on the beach that was willing to point them in the right direction, as he was heading into the forest himself. Thatch had gotten some pretty nice fruits, carrying them in a sack he had been carrying in his pocket.

Marco had decided that they could collect fresh meats on the way back, rather than lugging dead animal carcasses into the forest just to have to do it again on the way back to the ship. It was about mid day then they reached a cliff that over looked a small clearing. Thatch glanced down to see two of the boys from that morning just standing there. He didn't even get a chance to wonder where Luffy was when the smaller boy came running up to the other two yelling to them. From what he could hear it sounded like their names were Ace and Sabo, though he wasn't sure who was who.

"There he is," the old man said observing what was going on. Marco looked to him confused before he and Thatch turned their attention to what was happening below.

Down in the clearing they could see a giant tiger appearing out of the forest. It was almost taller then the surrounding trees, approaching the boys. Thatch immediately started to panic and was about to jump down the cliff with Marco and intervene when the old man stopped him.

"Just watch them," he said before training his eye back on the boys. The tiger gave a mighty roar, then and they saw the taller black haired boy charge it.

"What do you mean just watch?!" Thatch demanded.

"They're testing themselves," the old man told them. "Just watch."

Thatch and Marco didn't like that answer much, but they decided to watch, and if the boys looked like they were in serious trouble they would step in.

* * *

"I'm first!" Ace shouted as he charged at the tiger that had just come out of the clearing. He ran right at it before jumping just as the tiger went to attack "How predictable!"

Ace ran up the tiger's front leg as it was swung at him and jumped up at it's face, raising his pipe up into the arm with both hands he brought it down over the cat's nose causing it groan.

"How's that?" he said with a smirk, but it was short lived as the tiger sent the ten year old flying with its tail.

Just as the tiger began to advance on Ace, Sabo caught it around the neck with his fishing pole, pulling its attention to him.

"You gotta fight me now!" he yelled, trying to keep a hold on the pole. "Stop resisting, just give up!"

Agitated, the tiger yanked the pole and Sabo toward him before swiping at Sabo with one of its massive paws, sending the small blonde boy flying as it had with Ace. That left Luffy standing in the middle by himself.

"Sabo!" Luffy yelled as he turned to his brothers, one either side of the clearing, "Ace!"

Before he knew it the tiger was right in front of him. Luffy looked up at with big round eyes as it growled at him. He started to back up slowly before the tiger made to pounce on him.

"D-damn it!" he cried before starting to swing his arm around. "Gum-Gum Pistol!" he cried as he sent his rubbery fist at the tiger, only to have it bounce back with no effect at all, taking him right in the face, knocking him backwards.

The tiger was running at him now and he couldn't force himself to move, frozen in fear.

"Aaaa-Ahhhhhhh!" he cried at the giant breast leaped at him, jaws open and razor sharp claws out.

* * *

Up on the cliff Marco was looking worried. If there was anything he didn't like it was watching children get hurt.

"Oi! Old man!" he said, anger clear in his voice. "How do you expect us to just watch this?!"

"They obviously need help!" Thatch agreed but the old man just ignored them, pointing back at what was happening in the clearing.

* * *

"Oh no! Luffy!" Ace shouted as he got up quickly.

"Run!" Sabo shouted as he and Ace ran as fast as they could to save their little brother from being killed by the huge tiger.

Luffy screamed, closing his eyes just as the paw came down on top of him, but the feeling of pain never came. He open his eyes and stared wide eyed, still frozen at his big brothers who were both holding the gigantic paw from coming down on top of him.

"Ace! Sabo!" he cried out in surprise.

"So heavy! How power he is!" Sabo said, the strain of trying to hold up that power paw clear in his voice.

"Damn! We're not good enough!" Ace said, realizing that they might be in over their heads now. Sabo looked over at him surprised, fearing that his brother was going to give up. However Ace's next words brought him some relief. "But we can't lose! Guys, give me a hand!"

Sabo and Luffy both turned to him, surprise clear on their faces, but nodded.

* * *

"Oh, it's getting interesting," the old man said. Thatch really wanted to throttle him, but he couldn't take his eyes away from the scene below. He knew those boys had to be strong to be able to stop that powerful blow like they had.

Marco settled for quietly observing. He wondered just who those boys were and why they were even this deep into the mountains in the first place. He decided that if they survived this he would ask them.

* * *

Ace and Luffy started heading towards the woods as fast as they could, intending to use Luffy's gum-gum powers to their advantage.

"Sabo, do it!" Ace yelled back at his other brother.

"Okay! Hey, Tiger!" Sabo started yelling as he jumped around trying to get its attention. "Look over here!" He turned around and started slapping his butt then. "Kiss my ass!" he yelled. The tiger let out an angry roar and Sabo figured that was enough provoking, before he started to run for his life.

Meanwhile Luffy was setting himself up for a gum-gum rocket in the teen line.

"Pull as much as you can!" Ace told him before turning back to the clearing. "Sabo, this way!" Sabo was running with all he had towards Ace and Luffy.

"I can't! It's gonna eat me!" he shouted but kept running anyway, the tiger hot on his heels.

"You can do it, Sabo!" Ace encouraged. "Bring him as far as you can!"

He quickly got in front of Luffy who was ready to sling shot him at the tiger. Sabo kept running, not daring to look back.

"Are you ready, Luffy?" Ace asked, looking back at his little brother.

"Yeah!" Luffy told him, a huge grin on his face as he kept his eye on the tiger the whole time, but then he released himself. "Gum-gum-!"

"-Rocket!" Ace yelled as he was sent flying at the tiger, pulling back his pipe and swinging it heavily at the tiger's jaw where it made contact and sent the tiger flying backwards, completely knocked out.

The boys stood there catching their breath as they smiled at each other in triumph. Luffy came running out of the woods, jumping up and down cheering while Sabo followed behind him a slightly more subdued pace.

"We did it!" Luffy yelled. Ace grinned wide, adrenaline from that last attack still running though him.

Ace couldn't relax just yet though. The entire time they were fighting he couldn't get over the feeling that they were being watched.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

Thatch couldn't stop staring. His eyes were wide and he was sure that his jaw was touching the ground as his mind took its sweet time to process what he had just seen. Marco was in no better shape. His normally lazy eyes were nearly popping out of his head. Had those three boys really just taken on that huge tiger and won? It didn't seem possible, but it had to be, they had all seen it.

Marco was the first to recover when he noticed the old man smirking beside them; like he had no doubt that they could handle that monster. Marco realized he probably didn't doubt what they were capable of; he had been telling them to just watch the entire time after all.

"Come on," he said, elbowing Thatch. The fourth division commander, snapped his mouth shut.

"Where are we going?" he asked, his brain clearly not having caught up with Marco yet.

"I have some questions for those kids," he said simply. Thatch looked back at the kids who were jumping up and down, congratulating themselves on a job well done. Nodding, both division commanders jumped down the cliff, landing on their feet. Marco could have sworn he heard the old man mutter something that sounded like "good luck" but he couldn't be sure.

"That was a pretty impressive show," Marco commented with a lazy smirk.

* * *

Ace was the first to whip his head around at those words. He had just known they were being watched. He silently cursed to himself as he and Sabo stood in front of Luffy, feeling the need to protect their little brother.

Sabo recognized them as the pirates they had met on the beach that morning. He wondered what the chances of them accidentally stumbling upon them in this huge jungle were. Maybe they had been following them, but he hadn't felt they were being followed at all and he was usually able to pick up on that kind of thing. When your grandfather was Garp the Fist, running away, hiding and knowing when someone was following you were essential skills for survival.

"What, were you stalking us or something?" Ace asked rudely, holding the pipe in front of him defensively.

"Easy now there, tiger," Marco said, putting his hands up in mock surrender, trying to calm the child down. "We mean no harm."

"And we're certainly not stalking you," Thatch put in. "Some old guy from the beach was leading up through the forest so we could pick some fruits and stuff to re-supply our ship. We just happened to see you, that's all."

"A likely story," Sabo said suspicion still clear on his face. Even though they all wanted to be pirates some day didn't mean they were ready to take the word of just anyone. After all they had all had their bad experiences with adults in general. Also the Bluejam incident was still pretty fresh in their minds. Well, Ace and Sabo's minds at least. Nothing seemed to phase Luffy for very long.

"Shishishi, it was awesome right!?" Luffy asked, breaking the tense silence, an impossibly large grin on his face.

"Very impressive," Thatch agreed with a smile. "You boys are pretty strong. Who though you to fight?"

"We taught ourselves," Ace scuffed, there was no way he was going to let these pirates thing that they needed anyone to teach them anything. "We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves." Marco couldn't help but frown at that.

"Is that so, what about your parents, yoi," he said. "Don't they take care of you?"

"Don't got any," Ace retorted, still holding his pipe threateningly. It wasn't the complete truth, he knew Sabo's parents were alive, but they really didn't count since Sabo had run away. They were horrible people anyway.

"Doesn't anyone look after you?" Marco pressed. He was really starting to feel concerned.

"Dadan is supposed to be looking after us," Luffy piped up cheerfully.

"Dadan?" Thatch inquired.

"Uh-huh," Luffy said with a nod. "They're mountain bandits! Jiji left me with them. Ace and Sabo were here already, shishishi." Thatch and Marco's eyes went wide at that piece of information.

"Look, it's really none of your business," Ace growled before whacking Luffy on the head for telling them that.

"Ow! Ace is so mean," he whined.

"Shut up, crybaby!" Ace scolded. "You shouldn't have told them anything."

"But they asked and they're not gonna hurt us," Luffy reasoned. Sabo sighed. Luffy really was too innocent and naïve, but his intuition about people was never wrong. It was almost as if Luffy could just look at a person and judge their true character.

Marco, on the other hand, was intrigued with Luffy's logic. He had only meet them once before, and it was a very short encounter, and even though they knew they had no intentions of causing these boys harm, there was nothing to prove that other than words.

"How are you so sure we won't?" he found himself asking. Ace started to growl at that, reminding them of a tiger cub. Luffy stared Marco right in the eye, his wide eyes unblinking.

"Instinct," Luffy told him simply, as if the answer was as plain as day. Marco sweat dropped at that.

"Luffy's instincts are never wrong," Sabo found himself saying, not only for their benefit but also to remind Ace of that fact.

"Is that so?" Thatch said with a smile. "That's some insight you got there then."

"Come on," Ace said, getting tired of waiting and wanting those pirates to just leave. He knew Luffy's instincts were never wrong, but he still didn't trust these guys. They hadn't done anything to earn his trust, not yet at least. "We need to get do our actual hunting. There's no way that thing's really dead."

"We're not gonna eat it?" Sabo asked as he looked at the unconscious tiger. They really hadn't planned what to do with it at all. They beat it, so they should eat it, but it was huge and the three of them weren't going to be able to carry it.

"That thing would just give you indigestion," Ace scowled. He didn't want to kill the tiger. Sure, they had defeated it, but he also knew that if they kept it alive then they could fight it again. They could use it to become stronger.

"It's getting past noon and we haven't caught anything else yet," Sabo tried to reason. He just wanted to eat; he didn't care if it was a tiger, a bear or even a wild boar as long as he got something in his stomach.

"Hey! Why don't we ask Thatch and the pineapple guy to help?" Luffy suggested his huge grin firmly in place. "In exchange well share whatever we catch with ya."

"My name's Marco, yoi," the first division commander said as his eye started to twitch at being called pineapple guy.

"But your hair looks like a pineapple," he said, tilting his head to the side and looking confused.

"Luffy, it's rude to name people by their outward appearance," Sabo told his little brother. Luffy pouted at him before looking back at Thatch and Marco, expecting an answer.

"We don't mind helping," Thatch said while elbowing Marco with a smirk. "Right, pineapple guy?" Marco just cuffed the forth division commander in the head.

"Sure," he said, addressing the boys, completely ignoring Thatch's whining. "We still need to do some hunting of our own anyway.

"That's right!" Thatch remembered. "Hey how bout you tell us what's good to eat around here?"

With that they left the clearing to find a more reasonable catch. They had learned that Thatch was one of the cooks on their ship. Luffy had no problem talking the man's ear off about what he thought was the best things to eat in the forest.

* * *

Whitebeard was sitting in his usual seat on deck, watching as his sons hurried to get their supplies refilled so they could once again set sail. Among his children milling about the ship he noticed that Marco and Thatch didn't seem to be among them.

"Izou," he called out. The okama came over to him.

"What's up, Pops?" the cross-dressing commander asked.

"Have Marco or Thatch returned yet?" the captain asked.

"I haven't seen them," Izou told him, a frown marring his made up face. "They left this morning to collect some food didn't they?" Whitebeard hummed in agreement and nodded his head.

"Want me to go look for them?" Izou asked. He could tell his father was worried about them. They didn't normally take so long to collect food; they might have run into trouble if Garp the Fist was on the island at the moment.

"No, I'm sure they'll be along eventually," he said, not wanting to send another son out into the jungle.

"Alright, Pops," Izou nodded before going back to helping with restocking the ship.

* * *

"Whoa! That was amazing!" Luffy gushed. He had just watched Marco deflecting the attack without even doing anything. One good punch and the animal was down.

"How did you do that?" Sabo asked his eyes wide. Ace was stunned as well but was trying very hard not to show it.

"Haki," the blond haired man explained as he made sure the boar was dead before throwing it over his shoulder. They had collected plenty of meat for the boy's dinner and some to re-supply the ship's food stores. He and Thatch had watched impressed with the way the boys took down each animal with ease.

"Can I learn that?" Luffy asked excitedly as they started to make their way to the tree house with Ace and Sabo leading the way.

"It can be learned if you have the ability to use it," Marco told him. "Not everyone can use, Haki."

"So it's like a special mystery power?" Luffy asked causing Marco and Thatch to chuckle.

"Yea, something like that," Marco agreed.

"Do you guy wanna stay for lunch?" Sabo asked to be polite once they reached the tree house. They had helped them hunt after all. Thatch looked to Ace who so far seemed to be the only one who was still uncomfortable around them. He really enjoyed talking to them but didn't want to cause a fight between brothers.

"It's fine if you wanna," Ace said shortly, sensing the man's hesitation. Though he still wasn't completely sure about these pirates.

"Well then, don't mind if we do," Marco's answer was meet with Luffy cheering. He wanted to hear more stories about their adventures at sea.

"I'll be right back," Ace told them, giving Marco and Thatch a look that promised pain if either of them dared to hurt his brothers while he was gone, before taking his kill, a bear and leaving into the woods once more.

"Where's he going?" Thatch asked as he watched the boy leave.

"He's bringing that to Dadan and the other bandits," Luffy told them.

Sabo dropped his catch, a boar and started to prepare it to be cooked. Not wanting to feel useless Marco started collecting some wood for the fire with Luffy. Thatch stayed with Sabo and talked about the best ways to cook wild boar.

* * *

Ace made his way though the jungle to the mountain bandits hideout. The scowl never left his face, but on the inside he couldn't stop worrying about Sabo and Luffy. He didn't really want to leave them alone with those pirates, but someone had to bring the food back to Dadan and the others.

Luffy was too trusting for his own good, but Ace knew that he had a pretty good insight when it came to judging peoples characters, he wasn't completely naive. Ace would never admit it, but he found them a bit interesting as well, and Thatch had some pretty interesting stories. He just couldn't stop worrying. Sure they were nice right now, but what if they found out who his father was? They would hate him then, and what if they turned on Sabo and Luffy too for being his brothers? All the horrible possibilities ran though his head, and before he knew it he was standing right outside the bandits hide out. Shaking off all of his negative thoughts he brought the bear over to one of the bandits, he wasn't really paying attention to who it was.

"Here," he said, leaving it there as he turned to head back to the tree house. He didn't want to talk, he just wanted to get back and make sure his brothers were alright.

* * *

Thatch was cooking the meat over the fire while they waited for Ace to return. He had, had to stop Luffy three times from trying to just eat the meat raw. The kid was sure persistent and impatient to boot. Eventually Marco settled for distracting the boys, namely Luffy with tales of their recent time on the grand line.

"Really?!" Luffy yelled in excitement as Marco was reaching the climax of the story. The small boy's eyes were practically sparkling.

"Really," Marco assured.

Soon Ace came walking through the trees. Luffy grinned up at him in greeting, while Sabo gave a sly smile.

"You're just in time," Thatch told him. "The meat's just about done."

"Okay," Ace acknowledged, sitting down next to Luffy and Sabo. Marco gave him a lazy smile before returning to the story he had been in the middle of telling.

"Now where was I?" Marco asked thoughtfully.

"You were just telling us about the giant current that leads to the sky island!" Luffy reminded him.

"Oh yes, the knock up stream," Marco smiled and continued his story.

* * *

"So full…." Sabo groaned, laying back and rubbing his full stomach. Ace was in a similar state, laying next to Sabo and burping.

Thatch smiled; glad the boys had enjoyed his cooking. Marco was watching in amazing as Luffy continued to pack every bit of left over food into his mouth. It was crazy. He couldn't understand where Luffy was putting it all. If they had thought that Ace and Sabo were bottomless pits, then this kid was a black hole.

"How can you still be eating?" Marco asked in amazement. Luffy paused and gave the man a huge grin before swallowing his mouth full of food.

"Luffy's always like that," Ace supplied when Luffy didn't seem inclined to give a real answer. Being full and slightly sleepy seemed to have made him chattier. "Sabo has some weird theory about it."

"Oh, what's that?" Thatch asked, looking towards the blonde haired boy.

"Well, Luffy uses a lot of energy," Sabo told them. "You probably noticed that he can't sit still for even a minute. Even when he's eating his arms are everywhere and he's practically bouncing where he sits."

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "But that doesn't explain how he can pack so much food away, eventually his stomach will be full and he won't be able to fit anymore."

"Un," Sabo said, nodding in agreement. "That would be right, if Luffy were normal."

"He's not normal?" Thatch asked, looking confused.

"I ate the gum-gum fruit!" Luffy announced. "Now I'm a rubber man, shishishi!"

Devil fruit ability?" Marco asked as he watched Ace sit up and stretch Luffy's face to show them. "Where did you get it?"

"It was Shanks'. I ate it by accident," Luffy explained.

"By accident?" Thatch wasn't sure how someone accidentally ate a devil fruit; then again Luffy was a kid who ate everything in sight, so it was more then possible.

"Yeah, it tasted awful though," Luffy told him while making a face. Marco chuckled. He understood that statement as his own devil fruit had been pretty nasty tasting as well.

"Well, boys it's been fun, but we better be getting this stuff back to our ship now," Thatch said while standing up and picking up one of the animals they had hunted earlier. Marco followed suit.

"Awww, but I wanna hear more stories," Luffy whined, earning him a whack over the head by Ace.

"Don't be a crybaby," the older raven scowled.

"I'm not!" Luffy retorted while rubbing his head.

"Tell you boys what," Marco interrupted what could have turned into a brawl. "We're going to be here for a while, our ships pretty big, yoi. It'll take a while to re-supply. We're gonna have to do a lot more hunting, of course we won't be the only crew members doing the hunting, but you boys are pretty strong, yoi."

"You want us to help you hunt?" Ace asked. He could see where this conversation was going but he wasn't sure if they could be trusted yet, and he sure as heck wasn't going to be hunting for someone else for free.

"Why not?" Thatch put in. "In exchange you boys can come on the ship and check it out if you'd like. I'll even make you some yummy food."

"Really!?" Luffy practically yelled. Sabo sighed. These pirates have learned Luffy's weakness so easily already.

"Yup," said Marco. "And I'll tell you more stories. Pops would too and his stories are a lot more exciting them mine."

Ace sighed; it looked like they were going to have no choice. With the way Luffy's eyes were sparkling with excitement, he knew that their little brother would go with or without them, and there was no way he was going to let Luffy onto a pirate ship on his own. Although, he could tell that Sabo would rather demand money in exchange, they were saving up for their own pirate ship after all.

"Fine, it's not like we have anything better to do," Ace relented.

"YOSH!" Luffy cheered, jumping up and down. Sabo and Ace looked at their brother fondly. It might annoy the both of them but at least Luffy was happy.

Marco and Thatch chuckled at the rubber boy's enthusiasm. Now they just had to make sure it was okay with Pops. They didn't think he would really have a problem with it though, but it was better to give everyone a heads up about the trio coming aboard.

"We'll see you tomorrow, then," Thatch said. Marco grabbed his own hunt.

"Can you find your way back to the beach?" Sabo asked sleepily. They had been out to find lunch but after fighting the tiger then hunting with the pirates and waiting for the food to cook, night had already crept up on them.

"We'll be fine, yoi," the blonde assured. "You three get some sleep. We'll see you tomorrow."

"'Kay…" Sabo yawned, before heading to the tree house. Luffy was starting to wear down as well now that the excitement was over. Ace grabbed his little brother and helped him into the tree house, not wanting him to fall asleep on the ladder and fall down.

"Good night," Thatch said before him and Marco headed back into the forest in search for the beach.

"G'night… Thatchy… Pineapple guy…." Luffy muttered before passing out completely. Ace smiled fondly at his already sleeping brothers, wondering just what they had gotten themselves into before laying down and falling asleep on his own pillow.

* * *

"You've returned, my sons," Whitebeard said when he saw Marco and Thatch coming over the railing. Most of the crew had gone to bed already, aside from the captain and his commanders.

"Sorry, Pops," Marco apologized. "We ran into some interesting kids."

"Oh?" Whitebeard asked looking interested in hearing about it.

"Mmhmm," Thatch agreed, handing over the boar he had to Vista who was offering to put the meat away so that he and Marco could take to the captain.

"You were off playing with kids?" Izou asked in disbelief, well he could see Thatch doing that but Marco too?

"Yeah, there were three of them yoi," Marco nodded, walking up to Whitebeards chair so he could talk to his father much easier. Thatch followed suit with a huge grin.

"Oh yeah, they were pretty cute too," he said. "One of them, Luffy; was a little ball of energy, bouncing all over the place. You should have seen the look on his face when he found out we were pirates, he looked like he had died and gone to Heaven." Whitebeard laughed at that, the booming sound resonating thought the entire ship.

"What about the other two?" he asked interested in the mini adventure his sons had had.

"Well there was Sabo, who seemed kind of paranoid at first, but he was pretty smart for a kid his age. I think he was about ten, yoi," Marco said. "If I had to give him a title I'd say he's probably the peace keeper in their little group."

"Oh yeah," Thatch agreed. "He kept reprimanding Ace on being rude."

"GURARARA!" Whitebeard laughed. "What is this Ace like then, or is he just rude?"

"Well I could tell he doesn't like pirates, or maybe it's just adults in general," Thatch told him more seriously. "He didn't trust us at all. I mean I can't fault him for that. He's a kid, and we are pirates after all, but there was just something off about it all." Whitebeard looked thoughtful at that.

"Sounds like a temperamental child to me," Namur, the eight division commander commented as they listened.

"There's something more, though," Marco said. "They don't have any parents. The three of them are being raised by mountain bandits, yoi…"

"Or are suppose to be," Thatch reminded. "They're living on their own in a tree house in the mountains."

"That is concerning," Whitebeard said looking thoughtful. He hadn't met these kids yet, but his sons seemed to be fond of them already.

"They sound like they're capable enough though," Haruta commented, hoping to help smooth over their father's worries.

"They definitely are," Thatch assured, "Marco and I watched them take down a giant tiger on their own."

"Seriously!?" the commanders chorused in shock, while Whitebeard just laughed more.

"Also, we told them that they could come and check out the ship, yoi," Marco informed him. Whitebeard smiled at his sons.

"That's fine, I'd like to meet these children myself," he assured them it was alright by him. "It sounds like you had a full day. Why don't you go get some sleep now?"

"Alright," Marco said with a smile and a nod. "Night Pops."

"Good night," Thatch said as he and Marco headed below deck to get some much needed sleep.

Meanwhile on deck, the rest of the commanders wondered what the next day would bring.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**AN: Sorry this took so long to get out. The internet has been in and out because of the bad weather here. it's shorter then the last one but I hope you enjoy it. I've already started the next chapter.**

* * *

Sabo was the first one up the next morning. Sitting up and stretching with a loud yawn, he took at moment to look around the tree house until he spotted his brothers still sleeping, tangled in the blankets and each other. He couldn't help but laugh out loud at the funny picture they made.

In turn his loud laughing had Ace opening his eyes groggily and glaring at the blonde who dared disturb his sleep.

"What's so funny?" he grouched, rubbing his eyes.

"You and Luffy," Sabo told him with an amused look. Ace looked down to see his little brother practically sprawled over top of him, blanket twisted around them both. Detangling himself from Luffy, Ace got up and stretched.

"It feels too early to be awake," he commented as he looked outside to see that it was barely even light out yet.

"We did go to bed pretty early late night," Sabo reminded. "Should we wake Lu and go looking for some breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" came Luffy's sleepy voice. Sabo cursed himself. He should have known that Luffy would wake at the mere mention of food. Luffy was all ways hyper in the early morning which made him pretty cranky by bed time. It was never fun to deal with a cranky Luffy.

"I have a better idea," Ace said mischievously. Marco and Thatch had said they could come see the ship. They never specified when so Ace was going to take full advantage of that.

"Do tell," Sabo said with a grin. He had an idea of what Ace's plan was and it made him giddy.

"Let's go visit that pirate ship," he said. Luffy immediately was fully awake and cheering at the idea. "They said we could check it out right? Bet we can get something to eat there too."

"I like the way you think, good sir," Sabo said with a smirk. "Let's do it."

"YOSH!" Luffy cheered as he quickly put his sandals on and grabbed his straw hat. He was off like a shot before Ace or Sabo even managed to get one shoe on.

"Damn it, Luffy! Wait for us!" Ace cursed as he hurried to get his feet in his shoes and ran after their little brother who was too impatient for his own good.

Down on the beach they spotted the huge pirate ship that looked like a whale. Luffy had wanted to just run out there until Sabo hit him over the head reminding him that he couldn't even swim anymore. Even though it didn't hurt his rubber body he pouted.

"We need to think of a way to get out there," Ace said, looking over the beach. There were no boats.

"We could gum-gum rocket over!" Luffy announced as he spotted two trees side by side that would be perfect for it. "If one of you helps stretch my arms we can make it!"

"That's not too bad of an idea," Sabo admitted. "I could stand in front of him like you did with the tiger and you would pull him back and hold onto his back as he releases himself." Ace's 10 year old mind couldn't see a single problem with that plan at all and quickly agreed to it.

Before long they were in position. Sabo just in front of Luffy and Ace having pulled the little rubber boy's arms back as far as he could without meeting too much resistance.

"Remember you gotta let go of the tree as soon as we sling shot past them," Ace said, making sure that Luffy understood that critical piece of information. If he didn't let go at the right time only Sabo would get rocketed to the ship.

"Un!" Luffy said with a wide grin and a nod. They had him aimed at the boat the best they could for their distance and assured Luffy if they somehow didn't make it the whole way, either Ace or Sabo would be there to save him.

"Ready?" Sabo asked, leaning right on Luffy while Ace help the smaller raven's shoulders.

"Gum-gum!" Luffy yelled before releasing his feet from the ground.

"ROCKET!" they shouted in unison as they zoomed forward. Luffy let go of the trees just in time and soon they were flying over the open sea below.

It was right about that time that Ace and Sabo really realized the flaw in the whole plan. How they were going to land. They both knew Luffy would be fine, he was made of rubber but they were not so durable.

"Ahhhhhh!" the three cried out in unison as they hit the ships main sail. They bounced once and started falling to the deck.

"I don't think this was a good idea!" Sabo cried out, shutting his eyes tight and bracing for the impact.

"Gum-gum balloon!" Luffy called suddenly before he hit the deck, cushioning his fall right before the two older boys fell on top of him and lightly bouncing onto the deck.

"That was not the best thought out plan…" Ace admitted, earning a whack on the head from Sabo.

"You don't say," the blonde said with a scowl. Luffy wasn't bothered by any of this as he rolled around on the deck, laughing at his brothers.

* * *

The crew of the Moby Dick stood stunned into silence. It had been a normal morning, cleaning the deck, putting supplies away and waiting for the cooks to finish breakfast. That was, until they all heard the sound of screaming which turned out to become from three small children who some how were flying though the air, until they hit the main sail that was.

Just as everyone started to panic, thinking they were going to have three brats splattered on the deck one of them inflated themselves. They knew that it must have been a devil fruit ability. After they realized that the kids weren't in immediate danger, everyone stopped running around like chickens with their heads cut off and settled to just staring at what they could tell were obviously three little boys. None of them seemed to have noticed that they weren't alone yet.

"Oi! What do you kids think you're doing?" one of the crew finally yelled catching the boys attention. "This is a pirate ship, not a play ground!"

The three of them immediately froze before looking up to see themselves surrounded by pirates. They looked like spooked animals, ready to flee the scene. They accepted they had no where to run to.

"GURARARA!" the captain's laugh boomed. "So you must be the three boys my sons told me about." The smallest was the first to recover, his eyes wide and sparkling.

"WOAH! Giant Ossan!" He yelled jumping to his feet and running over to Whitebeard without a care. The giant man only laughed more. The blonde's eyes were wide as he scurried back away from the intimidating looking man. He and the older raven haired boy look as if they expected Whitebeard to try to eat them for a snack or something along those lines. It was amusing to say the least.

"You must be Luffy," he stated. This boy matched his sons' description perfectly.

"Un!" he said climbing up on the man's lap. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be the king of the pirates!"

"That ambition is bigger then you are," Whitebeard chuckled. That name sounded familiar to him somehow, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Luffy you don't just climb on people," the blonde boy scolded. "It's rude." He must have been Sabo.

"Get down from there, baka!" the one who could only be Ace yelled at Luffy while looking around still weary of all the crew members.

"I don't want to, blah!" Luffy declared, sticking his tongue out at his brothers. Ace growled and made to run at Luffy but was stopped by another whack in the head by the blonde.

"What was that for?!" Ace rounded on the blonde.

"You're being rude too," he said as if it was obvious. He turned to Whitebeard and bowed, forcing Ace to do the same.

"I'm Sabo and this is my brother, Portgas D. Ace, we're please to finally meet you," Sabo said politely.

"Please forgive our intrusion," Ace said in a more polite tone but they could tell it was killing him.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, completely oblivious to the situation. "But Thatchy and Pineapple-guy said we could come see the ship and they promised us food!"

He could see why Marco and Thatch had been taken with these boys. They certainly were amusing and two of them were Ds, they were probably going to be strong boys indeed.

* * *

They were apologizing for their completely rude entrance when suddenly all three of their belly's decided to remind them that they had yet to eat. Ace and Luffy whined while Sabo had the decency to blush. Ace was seriously starting to think this was a bad idea when finally a face they all recognized came out on deck, smiling lazily at them.

"I see you found your way on board, yoi," Marco commented as he walked up to Whitebeard, and removed Luffy from the old man's knee. Luffy wasn't put out though, he just grinned.

"Yup!" the small raven cheered. "But now we're really hungry."

"I believe Thatch is making something good in the galley, yoi," the blond told them with a smile. "Would you like me to show you where it is?"

"Yosh!" the three of them cheered. Sabo and Ace started to follow Marco to the galley when Ace paused mid step. It had just occurred to him that he was falling into Luffy's pace. He shouldn't be so eager to follow some stranger he had known for less then a full day just because he promised food.

"What are you waiting for, Ace?" Sabo called when he realized Ace was no long right beside him. "Is something the matter?"

"It's nothing," he said, quickly catching up. He was going to have to be more careful. It didn't matter if Luffy thought he could trust anyone, Ace wouldn't fall into his pace again.

"Come on then! I wanna eat!" Luffy cried out from ahead of them. Marco just chuckled at them.

The ship's galley was huge; well, they supposed it would have to be with so many crew members. Luffy was everywhere all at once, bouncing around the room trying to check everything out. Sabo was chasing after him, trying to make sure he didn't break anything in his exploration. That left Ace standing next to Marco who still had that lazy but amused look on his face.

"How about we leave them to look around for a bit and go find Thatch, yoi?" the blonde haired man asked. Ace looked hesitant.

"They'll be fine, yoi," Marco assured.

"Fine," Ace agreed and let Marco lead him around a wall that lead to where the food was being cooked. Thatch was there making some eggs along with a couple others who must have been cooks as well.

"Look who decided to show up this morning, yoi," he said, getting Thatch's attention.

"Huh?" he asked as he turned, eyes landing on Ace who was still a little skittish around so many people. "Ah! Ace-kun! Come for some more of my wonderful cooking?" he asked, a huge smile over taking his face.

"Luffy was hungry and wouldn't take no for an answer," Ace said, not wanting to admit that it had been his idea.

"I see," Thatch said still smiling. "So what do you think so far?"

"It's alright," he scuffed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away stubbornly.

"Pops clearly thinks they're a riot," Marco commented. "Luffy jumped right up in his lap, yoi."

"Luffy's an idiot with no sense of danger," Ace scuffed before Thatch had a chance to reply.

* * *

Macro and Thatch looked at Ace with a frown. Did the boy really still think they were going to hurt them? They could tell that there were some underlying problems and it probably went farther then simple mistrust of strangers. Someone had hurt Ace. They had hurt him so bad that he felt like everyone wanted to harm him or his brothers. It was a worrisome thought. Neither Marco or Thatch wanted to think about what could have happened to the boy to cause such a reaction but they knew he wouldn't tell them, at least not any time soon.

Vaguely they wondered if they would gain his trust before they left Dawn Island at all. After all they weren't planning on being on the island for long.

"You know," Thatch said carefully. "Not everyone is bad."

"Che, I know that!" the ten year old retorted. "But not everyone is good either."

"That's true, yoi," Marco agreed. "But your brother seems to have a pretty good intuition when it comes to telling if someone has ill intent or not."

"He's still too trusting," Ace said. "Some people know how to hide their bad intentions, and by the time you realize it, it's too late."

Marco was going to ask what he meant but Luffy came running in then yelling about food. Instantly the whole mood changed and Thatch gave the rubber boy a wide grin.

"I'll be bringing it out right now," he promised as he moved the cooked eggs out of the pan.

The crew members seated in the galley were stunned. Well, with the exception of Marco and Thatch who had already seen, just how much food each of the boys could pack away? The plates were piled high and they were still going. Thatch had a feeling that Luffy wouldn't stop as long as food kept being presented to him.

"Are you guys gonna eat all day or are we going to shop you around the ship, yoi?" Marco asked, figuring that now would be a good time for a distraction, the cooks looked like they could use a brake.

"SHIP!"

"YES!"

* * *

Three finally dropped their forks and were jumping up and down in their seats, until Ace realized what he was doing and stopped. He couldn't get the smile off his face thought, he was excited to see a real pirate ship, whether he trusted the pirates on it or not. He knew he was going to have to be more careful from then on. Ace kept that thought in mind as he followed Sabo and Luffy out of the galley for their tour.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading I hope it was okay. kind of a boring chapter I know but the next one will be better ^^ as always reviews are appreciated. really they keep me motivated. **


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**AN: some mentioned events that happened may be out of order here to fit the story better.**

* * *

Luffy couldn't contain his excitement at all; he was bouncing everywhere, eye sparkling with each thing Marco had shown them. So far they had seen the galley of course; the workshop, the lounge, the storage rooms, the bathroom when Sabo had started hopping around doing the potty dance and now they were taking a look at the navigation room where all the maps were stored.

Sabo took special interest in this room. He loved to learn and reading maps was something he would have to know when he set sail on his own. Ace, Luffy and he had made a promise. When they turned seventeen, they would each set sail on their own to become pirates.

"You like maps, yoi?" Marco asked when he noticed Sabo take more interest then he had in the other areas of the ship.

"Un," Sabo nodded as he looked over some of the maps setting on the drafting desks. "I wanna learn how to navigate," he said. "When I'm old enough I wanna set out to sea."

"We'll all have to learn," Ace added absentmindedly as he looked at the map Sabo was studying. "Well there may be no hope for Luffy," he teased his little brother who was looking at everything in hyper speed still.

"Who cares," Luffy finally said. "I'll just let the wind take me where ever it wants to. It'd be more of an adventure that way, shishishi."

"Only you would think that, Luffy," Ace sighed. He really wasn't sure if he should let Luffy out on the ocean by himself, maybe he and Sabo would just have to take Luffy with them. Hopefully he would grow out of thinking that way but he doubted it.

Marco just chuckled at Luffy's outlook on life. After the map room they took a brief look at the weapons and artillery rooms. Ace looked like he wanted to stay and look around more but Marco didn't want to chance Luffy getting hurt on something. He knew that neither brother would ever forgive him if he let Luffy get hurt on the ship.

Thatch came out of the galley just as they were heading back on deck. He gave them all a big smile.

"Ready for some hunting boys?" he asked.

"Yosh!" Luffy cried excitedly, throwing both his hands up in the air. Sabo and Ace grinned as well. They didn't know who was going hunting with them but they couldn't wait to see if the rest were as strong as Marco and Thatch.

"Well let's get going then," Thatch said. "Izou and Vista are gonna come with us."

"Is he dressed like a girl?" Luffy suddenly asked when they saw Izou. They could tell he was a man even under all the make up despite the fact that he was wearing a female kimono.

"Got a problem with that?" Izou asked and all the members on deck visibly tensed.

"Nope," Luffy said without a moment's hesitation, picking his nose and not even realizing what his question had caused.

"Then why'd you ask?" Izou asked again. Clearly he hadn't been expecting that answer at all.

"Was curious," he asked flicking his booger at Sabo who bopped him on the head yelling something about that being gross. "So how come you wear em?"

"They're comfortable," Izou said, opting out of explaining cross dressing and embracing ones inner maiden to the seven year old.

"Oooh," Luffy said nodding, like something suddenly made a lot of sense. Ace and Sabo were quick to hit him on the head again.

"Don't even think about it!" they shouted in unison, knowing exactly what their little brother had been thinking.

"But he said it was comfortable," Luffy whined, the hit hadn't hurt at all since he was rubber. Ace and Sabo sighed and just decided to be thankful that Makino only ever brought them boy clothes. Luffy on the other hand was determined that he would find out if it was true or not later, when Ace and Sabo weren't around to hit him.

* * *

Ace lead them to their normal hunting ground up on the mountain where the animals grew a lot bigger. That way they could hunt less. Sabo had in pressed upon them the important of making sure the game was big. If they killed too many small ones they would end cutting into the islanders food supply. The Moby Dick was a big ship with a huge crew so they knew it would take a lot to feed a crew that size. Luffy Ace and Sabo split up with the crew to show them where the best places to hunt where. Sabo went with Vista, Marco with Ace while Thatch and Izou went together with Luffy since he was the youngest of the boys.

* * *

"There should be some really big boars around here," Sabo told Vista in quite voice as they made their way through the thick forest. It was easy to see that a large animal or two had just come though not that long ago by the way the trees were torn up. Leaves and low hanging branches were broken on the ground. Vista nodded to the small boy as he listened for a trace of the animal.

Sabo gripped his lead pipe, he knew that the boars unpredictable and liked to rampage through this area of the forest. Vista was over by the animal tracks trying to see if he could tell which way it had went. Suddenly Sabo heard it, the sound of running hooves. He looked around wildly for the animal.

"Vista-san!" he called as he spotted the boar running right towards the pirate. The animal was huge; maybe five times the size or a normal boar. Vista hardly heard it however and turned to care the creature, how swords drawn. It took only a matter of seconds. If Sabo had blinked he would have missed it. Vista had sliced the boars head clean off right before his eyes. Sabo was amazed but he didn't have much time to voice his opinion before a second boar had come rushing right for him. Vista hadn't seen it coming, too busy with his own kill. Sabo had to think fast. He quickly moved quickly, jumping up onto a bolder to get a better shot. With all his strength he jumped at the boar brining the lead pipe down onto the animal's skull as hard as he could. The defining crack of bones and the boar collapsing told him that had managed to accomplish what he had been planning.

Vista stared in wonder at the boy. He had heard from Marco and Thatch that the boys were strong but he had thought maybe it was an exaggeration. How in the world did children get so strong? The swordsman figured there must be a story behind it but he knew better then to ask. From what Marco had said the kids seemed to have some trust problems. Well the two older ones did at least.

"Nice job kid," Vista praised instead. Sabo blushed a little a smiled, clearly not used to compliments.

"Thanks, you were pretty amazing too," the blond said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Knowing they wouldn't be carrying any more then what they had, Vista figured it was time to head back to the boats they had left on the beach and wait for the others.

* * *

"LUFFY!" Thatch and Izou cried out in horror at what they had just seen. Luffy had been showing them where some really big gators were when he had gotten too close to the river bank and found himself being swallowed whole by a huge Alligator.

"Shit we have to do something," Thatch said, running around in a panic. Ace would kill them if they let his little brother get hurt. Suddenly his panic was cut off by two gunshots. Izou had recovered from his panic first and shot the gator right between the eyes twice, easily taking it down.

"If you're done panicking, cut the boy out of its stomach," the okama instructed. Nodding dumbly Thatch pulled the gator out of the river and set to carefully cutting it open to get Luffy out.

A few minutes later Luffy was free, standing there covered in blood and alligator guts but otherwise looking okay. He was only a little shaken.

"Are you alright, Luffy?" Thatch asked, looking the boy over for any injuries. Luffy nodded.

"I didn't think that would ever happen again," he admitted.

"Again?" Izou asked in disbelief. "You mean that's not the first time you've been eaten by an alligator?"

"Nope, Ace and Sabo saved me last time but it was kinda their fault in the first place…" he trailed. Thatch shook his head and decided he didn't want to know as he picked Luffy up, leaving Izou to grab his own kill.

"Let's just get back to the ship and get you cleaned up," he said, carrying Luffy back to the ship to meet up with the others.

* * *

Marco and Ace weren't having an easy time of hunting. Mostly because Ace kept glaring at the blond making him feel like the child was trying to set him on fire with his eyes alone. It probably had something to do with them all splitting up being Marco's idea. He had thought it would get them a bigger verity of things so they wouldn't end up depleting one of the islands natural resources. They weren't just after meat though. Another group had gone out earlier that day to collect more of the plants and fruits that Marco and Thatch had discovered the day before. They also planned to buy some sake in the village on the other side of the mountains as soon as they were sure that Garp was nowhere near the island.

"Are you going to keep trying to murder me with you eyes yoi, or are you going to show me a good place to hunt?" Marco finally asked trying to relieve some of the tension in the air.

"I don't trust you," Ace told him bluntly. Marco sighed.

"I figured as much," he said. "It's not just because I'm a pirate is it."

"Being a pirate has nothing to do with it," Ace confirmed Marco's suspicion.

"Then what is it?" Marco asked, finally stopping to turn and look at the boy. Ace stopped as well studying Marco.

"I don't want my brothers to get hurt," the raven haired boy said after a few minutes.

"We're not going to hurt them or you for that matter, yoi," he said in a serious tone. This only served to confirm what he had been thinking earlier that morning. Someone had hurt Ace. Just the thought of it made Marco's blood boil. He hadn't known the boys for long but he was already starting to feel protective of them.

"You can say that all you want," Ace told him, just as serious. "But words are just words until you prove that they're true." Marco sighed; he knew that it was going to take a lot more then a few nice words to win Ace over.

"Then we better get to hunting so you can get away from the big bad pirate then, yoi," he said slightly amused as Ace's face turned red with agitation. Marco knew it wasn't helping the situation but he couldn't pass up any opportunity to tease the kid. His reactions were too funny.

"Shut up!" Ace retorted, unconsciously tightening the grip on his pipe, his teeth gritted. "I'm not scared of you."

"You're scared of something, yoi," Marco pointed out, serious once more. He could see he was raising Ace's hackles with just the suggestion. As the boy was about to make an angry retort, a low menacing growl had him on alert.

Ace knew that growl, he had encountered it before. Slowly out of the trees came an enormous black bear. There was a scar over his right eye and his claws looked razor sharp. It was the same one that he had foolishly told Luffy to take on by himself. Luffy had nearly died.

While Ace was lost in his thoughts the bear was on the move. Marco had been frozen in shock at the sheer size of the beast and almost didn't make it in time to push Ace away from the deadly claws coming down at him. Luckily he made it in time, shoving Ace back and taking the bears attack himself.

"MARCO!" Ace screamed as he realized what was happening. His eyes were wide in shock as he saw the first division commander take the brunt of the attack that was meant for him. He couldn't believe it, someone- Marco, had just saved his life. The life of a kid he barely even knew. Just as Ace was starting to panic blue flames burst from Marco's body and Ace could only stare in wonder. He had never seen anything like it though he knew it must have been a devil fruit power.

"You okay, yoi?" the blond asked, glancing back at Ace who could see the wounds healing in the flames.

"Y-yeah…" was all Ace could manage to say. Marco gave him a warm reassuring smile before turning his attention back on the bear.

"It's alright to kill this thing isn't it?" Marco asked. He wasn't sure what the brat's policy on bigger animals was. He knew they had decided not to kill the giant tiger yesterday but that could have just been on a whim.

"Of course," Ace confirmed, finally coming out of his shock. He gripped his pipe tightly, determined to help Marco take that beast down. "I have a score to settle with this monster."

Marco grinned at the kid's determination and covered his arm in haki as the bear made to attack him again. Marco lunged forwards punching the beast in the gut hard, causing it to let out a wild roar as it started to thrash around in pain, clawing blindly. It didn't matter however. Any attack that landed was just engulfed in the blue healing flames.

Ace ran at the bear, jumping up and aiming for it's head with his pipe while it was distracted with Marco. The bear had quick reflexes however as it growled menacingly hit Ace right out of the air with one of it's massive paws. Ace was sent flying into a near by tree, the impacts forcing blood to spay from his mouth. The raven haired boy slumped to the ground, groaning in pain. Marco shot him a worried look blocking another attack with his haki.

He wanted to rush over to Ace and make sure he was alright but he knew he couldn't do that while the bear was still alive. He turned a glare on the beast while dodging another blow before landing a powerful kick on the bear's midsection sending it flying back several feet. From the corner of his eye he saw Ace standing up. He wanted to tell the boy to just stay back but he knew Ace's pride wouldn't allow it. He needed to finish the beast off before it could really hurt Ace.

"Stupid bear," Ace grumbled before going into a coughing fit. He had hit the tree hard and even his vision was starting to blur. He knew at this point there wasn't going to be much help to Marco but he didn't wanna show weakness.

Marco decided that he was going to need to end his quickly; he took a large hunting knife out and readied himself to strike when he bear got to its feet and started to charge him again. However he made a miscalculation. The beast realized he was no match for Marco and decided to go after Ace instead. Marco's eyes went wide with panic as he watched the scene that seemed to be playing out in slow motion.

Ace tried to block it, he really did and that was probably the only thing that saved him. The bear sunk his teeth into Ace's shoulder but because the pipe was there at the back of its jaw he couldn't clamp down completely.

"Ahhhh!" he cried out in pain.

Marco who was watching all of this, frozen in horror quickly brought himself back into action, jumping on the bear's back and driving his hunting knife right into the beast's skull.

The reaction was immediate. It let loose of Ace as it howled in pain and started to thrash around, trying to throw Marco off. The first division commander wasted no time in pulling the knife out and using it to sever the bear's head from its body. It fell over in a heap and Marco didn't even spare it a glace before rushing to Ace's side.

Ace was in pain, true horrible pain. He couldn't help but wonder if this is what Luffy had felt. Maybe this was his punishment for letting Luffy fight that stupid bear on his own that one time when Sabo had been gone for weeks and he was depressed. He didn't even notice Marco rushing over to him.

"Ace!" the blond yelled trying to get his attention. "Come one stay with me Ace."

"H-hurts…" was all the young boy could manage to stay.

"I know," Marco said, picking Ace up in his arms. "I'll get you some help so just hold on, okay?" He didn't wait for a reply as he raced off to the Moby Dick to find a doctor for Ace, praying he made it there in time.

* * *

**AN: There you have it. i was originally gonna do something else for the ending but decided to save it for the next chapter ^^ hope you enjoyed it and as always reviews are appreciated and thank you to everyone who reviewed, Favorited and is following this fanfic :)**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

"What happened to Ace?!" Sabo yelled as soon as Marco stepped into view with Ace bloody in his arms.

Marco raced to get back to the Moby Dick, not even stopping to answer the Sabo's question. All he could think about was getting Ace to a doctor. He couldn't fly; Ace was in too much pain to hold on properly so he did the only other thing he could. He put Ace in one of the row boats and pushed it into the water before jumping in, himself and rowing as fast as he could back to the ship.

"Just hang in there, Ace," he said, hoping he wouldn't go into shock from blood loss. Marco had been in a lot of battles, seen a lot of fights, even watched men die but this was something new. He had never felt as helpless as he did watching Ace hold his injured shoulder while trying to bite back sobs of pain.

Marco barely noticed the sound of splashing behind them as the others piled into the second row boat and followed after them. All of his attention was focused on getting help for Ace. Once they reached the Moby Dick Marco picked Ace up into his arms once more and jumped up onto the railing. Quickly he looked around the deck.

"I need a doctor now yoi!" he yelled out. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to look at the first division commander. Marco barely registered as they started franticly asking what happened. In all the confusion one of the many ships doctors rushed to him, taking Ace from his arms and running towards the sick bay. Marco followed behind the doctor only catching a few words like blood lose and surgery. The blond didn't think any of it sounded good. He didn't even want to think about how he was going to face Sabo and Luffy now that he had let Ace get hurt. Just as he was about to follow the doctor into the sick bay he was stopped at the door.

"I'm sorry, Marco-taicho, you'll have to wait outside," he told him. Marco nodded in understanding.

"I'll be right outside, Ace," he called to the ten year old. "You're in good hands yoi."

"I'll let you know as soon as we're finished," the doctor said before closing the door. Marco sat down in the hall, preparing for what felt like the longest wait of his life.

* * *

Sabo was frantic, beyond frantic even. He was heading into full blown panic. When he saw Marco carrying Ace his first thought had been that maybe Ace had, had a narcoleptic fit but then he saw the blood and the pain on his brother's face. Marco wouldn't answer him, acted like he hadn't even heard the question and by the look on his face Sabo figured he probably hadn't.

"What's wrong with Ace?" Luffy had asked as Thatch and Vista rowed the other boat as fast as they could.

"I don't know," Sabo told him. He could tell Luffy was apprehensive even if the younger boy didn't know it himself. He looked ready to cry but held it in, probably afraid of being called a crybaby again. Sabo put a comforting arm around his little brother in hopes of calming both of them.

Once they reached the ship Luffy and Sabo tore up the rope ladder before any of the commanders could even stand up. They looked around franticly but they couldn't see Ace or Marco anywhere. Thinking quickly Sabo grabbed Luffy and headed to the only place that Marco could have taken him. It was a good thing that Sabo remembered the way to the sick bay from their tour that morning.

* * *

Thatch, Vista and Izou didn't even have time to stop the boat completely before Sabo and Luffy were jumping on the ladder and hurrying to reach the deck. The commanders could understand their concern though and hurried after them. Thatch and Izou headed straight to the sick bay while Vista instructed some men to grab the game they had left on the beach in their hurry. As they made it down the hallway they could hear frantic, raised voices.

"What do you mean he was attacked by a bear!?" it was Sabo who yelled. Once the group came into view Thatch could see Marco sitting against the wall looking completely drained while Sabo was yelling at him and Luffy was sitting next to Marco in full unrestrained sobs.

"It came out of no where yoi," Marco said trying to keep calm and putting a comforting arm around Luffy. "The damn thing hit him and sent him flying into a tree. I started to fight it after that, trying to kill it and keep its attention on me… I guess it realized it was no match for me and took off after Ace instead. I went after it but was too late by then."

"I don't wanna hear excuses! I just wanna know that my brother's gonna make it!" Sabo looked ready to cry. He also looked like he wanted to shout some more before he saw Thatch, Izou and Vista coming towards them.

"That bear…." Luffy finally said, barely above a whisper. The brim of his hat was over shadowing his eyes so Marco and the others couldn't see them. "It nearly killed me a few months ago."

"Ace mentioned something about having a score to settle…" Marco murmured just now remembered what the raven haired boy had said. Marco had wondered at the time but didn't ask. Luffy started to sob more. Sabo kneeled down in front of his little brother and hugging him tight.

"Oi, Luffy! This isn't your fault," the young blond said. "Ace is hard headed, he would have tried to fight that monster either way."

"B-But…" Luffy whined.

"Hey, kiddo," Izou said coming over to them. "He'll be alright. We have some of the best doctors in the world on this ship."

"R-really?" the teary eyed seven year old asked.

"You bet we do," Thatch agreed. "Ace will be better in no time flat."

"You should all go get something to eat," Vista suggested. "You too Marco, you look terrible."

"I feel terrible yoi," the first division commander agreed. "But I'll wait here till the doctor comes out."

"Alright," Vista relented, knowing that nothing would change the stubborn birds mind.

"I'm not leaving till I know Ace is okay either," Sabo said firmly. Luffy nodded his head franticly in agreement.

"How about we all wait then?" Thatch suggested, taking a seat along with wall. Izou followed suit.

"I'll be back," Vista said. "I'm gonna go tell Pops what happened."

"Good idea," Marco said with a nod. He was sure he had scared the crew with how he had come onto deck yelling for a doctor. They were probably all worried.

* * *

Vista didn't really know why he volunteered to be the one to tell Pops that one of the kids got hurt on their watch. Sure they weren't members of the crew but by showing them around and spending time with them it was pretty much an unspoken rule that they were now The Whitebeard Pirate's responsibility, at least until they left the island.

Out on the deck Vista could see the crew milling about doing chores but it was obvious that they were waiting to hear something about what had happened. Needing to inform Pop's first, Vista went to the part of the deck that was taken up by Whitebeards chair.

"Any news of what Marco was yelling about my son?" the old man asked as he spotted Vista approaching.

"It seems that Ace was attacked and injured pretty badly by a bear," Vista informed him in a grave voice. Whitebeard looked deeply concerned. "Marco of course tried to prevent it from happening but the bear was a monster even for him to handle. Ace is in with the doctor's now."

"I see," the old man said looking thoughtful and worried. "Keep me updated on the boy's condition."

"Of course, Pops," Vista said with a nod. "You'll know as soon as I hear something." Whitebeard nodded and Vista headed back below deck to the sick bay, wanting to keep informed about Ace's condition.

* * *

Pain… white hot pain coursing though his body was all he could feel. And regret. Oh how he regretted ever telling Luffy to fight that monster by himself. Somewhere deep down, Ace felt he deserved this. He was just the monster child of a demon father… he didn't have the right to live… he should just die… Ace wasn't sure how many times he had heard those words.

It hurt so much he could hardly think, he could barely breathe. Each breath coming in short painful gasps. He barely heard Marco's words. Nor did he realize it when he changed hands. He could only register the pain, the pain and cold that seemed to be gripping at his skin, chilling him to the core. He thought that if ever given in the choice he would always want to be warm.

Bright light started to invade his blurred vision, blinding him completely but it also warmed his icy skin. Soon the pain started to fade and then there was nothing… only endless black.

Marco wasn't sure how long they spent waiting to hear something, anything indicating that Ace was going to be okay. He thought they were taking an awfully long time to patch up some wounds. Maybe it had been worse then he thought, maybe there had been too much blood lose, maybe - well the list of maybes went on and on. The creaking of the sick bay door tore Marco out of his thoughts. The doctor came out looking tired and maybe even a little somber, Marco couldn't tell, he was too worried about Ace. No one said anything for a while and the panic inside Marco started to swell.

* * *

"Well? What's the verdict, yoi?"

"Is Ace gonna be alright?"

"I-is my big b-brother gonna d-die?"

All those questions came out at once, meshing into a chaotic mess of words that were hard to understand. The doctor put up a hand to silence them all. Instantly everyone was quiet, save for a few sniffles from Luffy and Sabo who had started crying shortly after the reality of the situation had hit him.

"Ace's injuries were bad," he said, clearly bringing the explanation down to a level that even seven year old Luffy would understand. "Not only was there the bite wound to mend but also some internal injuries."

"He was thrown into a tree pretty hard, yoi," Marco supplied the explanation. The doctor nodded in understanding.

"I was able to fix the damage, however he lost quite a bit of blood," he explained. "I can't be sure of when he'll wake up, if he even wakes at all."

"What do you mean if he wakes at all?!" Marco yelled, standing up now.

"He went into a coma shortly after I set him on the operating table," he said with a sigh.

"A-Ace may never wake up?" Sabo asked, fully understanding what being in a coma meant.

"No!" Luffy cried not liking the sound of that at all. Marco hugged the rubber boy close as he started to panic.

"It could last as short as a few hours or it may be permeate," the doctor told them not wanting to sugar coat it and give them false hope.

"You're wrong!" Sabo yelled an angry looking coming over his childish face.

"Shh, Luffy, Sabo, have faith in Ace," he told them. "His will is strong I'm sure he'll wake before we know it."

"But what's gonna happen in the mean time?" Sabo asked, the gravity of what Ace being in a coma meant for them. They were just kids; they didn't know how to take care of someone in a coma.

"Ace will stay here on the Moby Dick under my care for the time being," the doctor said. Marco knew that he was purposely not telling them that they would only be staying on this island for a short time. There was no need to put them through more worry just yet. They had to hope for the best now.

Thatch, Izou, Vista and Marco left the sick bay hallway, intended to make the two boys eat something since they had already missed lunch. Sabo and Luffy seemed distant now that their brother was in a critical condition. The four commanders exchanged worried looks. They didn't know what was going to happen but they couldn't just leave the boys to fend for themselves and try to take care of their comatose brother. For now they just had to keep the boy's from being depressed and hopefully Ace would wake soon. It was also clear that no one wanted to be the one to tell Pops the news of Ace's condition.

* * *

Meanwhile some where in The Grand Line…

"We need to send someone to Dawn Island in the East Blue," Sengoku said thoughtfully. "I've discovered that, _that_ man did indeed have a child. A son in fact."

"He must be killed," Akainu, who was standing in front of Sengoku's desk said immediately. "We can't allow his line to go on."

"Yes," Sengoku agreed.

"Captain Smoker is stationed in Lounge Town in the East Blue right now," Akainu informed.

"He should do just fine," Sengoku said, dialing the number into the den den mushi. "It's only one child after all. Nothing a Marine Captain can't handle." Akainu nodded in agreement as Sengoku placed the call.

* * *

**AN: well this wasn't exactly how i wanted to do this but things usually get bad before they can get better. Don't worry about Ace too much though I wouldn't do anything too bad to him. thanks for reading and thank you to everyone who reviewed. Also I do like that you all are eager for more chapters but I can't promise when I'll have them done. I can only write when inspiration strikes. I never write when i don't feel it because I think it makes my work sound forced and it's never good that way. **


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**AN: sorry if this chapters not too exciting, I promise the next one will be though ^^**

* * *

Ace had already been asleep for three days. Luffy hadn't left Ace's side since that first day. Thatch had convinced him rubber boy that he needed to leave and let the bandits know what had happened incase they went looking for them. Sabo had finally convinced Luffy that he wouldn't leave Ace's side until the younger boy returned. Reluctantly Luffy left the Moby Dick with Thatch and Marco.

_The entire time there felt like there was something off in the forest. It was too quiet. Their suspicions were confirmed once they reached the boy's tree house which had been reduced to ashes. Luffy stared wide eyed at the scene before him._

"_W-what happened!?" he cried once he came out of shock. He looked around franticly for any sign of what might have caused this. Not seeing anything he ran off towards the bandit's home, Marco and Thatch hot on his heels trying to get Luffy to stop and calm down. Luffy couldn't calm down, this was too much. First Ace had gotten hurt and may never wake up and now the only the tree house they had built together, the only home they had was destroyed._

"_DADAN!" he yelled as the bandit shack came into sight. The large orange haired women or maybe it was a man, Marco and Thatch couldn't really tell, came out of the shack._

"_Luffy!" Dadan yelled, looking relived to see the straw-hat wearing boy. "Where have you been and where are Ace and Sabo?"_

"_What happened to the tree house!?" Luffy asked ignoring her questions. Knowing he wasn't going to listen to her until she answered him Dadan sighed._

"_That bastard up in High Town came looking for Sabo again," she said. "When he couldn't find him he burnt your tree house to serve as a warning." Marco and Thatch saw Luffy's features darken. They didn't think the carefree seven year old could make such a face._

"_Luffy?" Thatch asked, concerned. Marco turned to address the bandit._

"_Who exactly is looking for Sabo, yoi?" he asked. Dadan apparently hadn't noticed them and jumped when he spoke._

"_Just who the hell are you?" she asked, eyeing them suspiciously._

"_Forgive me," Marco said. "I'm Marco and this is Thatch. We're pirates. Your boys have been with us. That's why you couldn't find them yoi."_

"_I see," she said. "The man's a noble from the village."_

"_A noble?" Thatch asked confused. "Why is a noble after Sabo?"_

"_It's his dad…" Luffy replied in a quiet voice, not sure if he should tell but unable to stop himself. "Sabo hated being a noble so much that he ran away."_

"_I see," Marco said, understanding what was going on now. "We'll have to make sure that they don't find him then, yoi."_

_Luffy looked up at him in surprise. He hadn't thought they would want to help. Nearly everyone hated nobles and it was always Sabo's biggest fear that they would reject him once they found out._

"_You still haven't told me where Ace and Sabo are," Dadan said with a frown. She wouldn't admit it but she had been worried about the brats._

"_About that," Thatch said with a sigh._

It took a while to explain to the bandit about how Ace had been attacked and gone into the coma. By the time Thatch had finished Luffy had fallen asleep and was being carried by Marco and they had decided that it would be best for the boy's to stay one the ship until Ace woke. It would also be the safest and most effective way to keep Sabo out of sights of the nobles who were looking for him.

Ever since returning to the ship and informing Whitebeard of what was going on the two boys hadn't left Ace's side. There was also one of them with their older brother at all times. It was so bad that not even the promise of food would get either to leave the sick bay even to eat. The commandeered we're taking turns bringing them food. Izou had just left them with their lunch.

"When do you think he's gonna wake up, Sabo?" Luffy asked quietly, looking down at his food but not really feeling hungry at all.

"I don't know, Lu…" Sabo said just as quietly before turning his attention to Ace. "You need to wake up soon, Ace. Me and Luffy need you here…"

* * *

_Darkness._

_Endless black._

_Everywhere…_

That's all he could see. Ace felt lost. Wandering, searching for any sign of life. He didn't know where he was. He couldn't see only black everywhere he looked. Once in a while he thought he could hear faint voices but they seemed too far away to make any of the words out. They seemed muffled, like he had cotton stuffed in his ears.

The only thing Ace seemed to be able to do in the darkness was think. Oh did he have too much time to think. He thought about where he was and about how he had gotten there. The last thing he remembered was pain and a white light before everything turned black. Ace reasoned that maybe he was sleeping and this was just a dream. However when he wasn't thinking about those things his mind wondered back to something he had asked Garp before Luffy came to Dadan's hide out.

_Was it good that I was born?_

Garp had never given him a straight answer back then. Ace thought that maybe it wasn't good that he was born… but then along came Luffy who told him that being alone hurt worse then being hurt and that Ace being there made things better. He told Ace that he wanted him to live. For the first time someone had actually said it out loud and Ace began to have hope again. But what if Luffy and Sabo were better off without him? If not for him Luffy wouldn't have been eaten by that crocodile or attacked by that bear.

_Maybe I should just die…_

Ace shook his head as soon as the thought crosses his mind. No he wouldn't give in so easily. He wouldn't give all those bastards who called him a demon the satisfaction. He needed to get out of the darkness, if he only knew how.

_You need to wake up soon, Ace…_

He looked around. He heard it that time. It was Sabo's voice loud and clear.

_Me and Luffy need you here…_

They needed him to wake up. Someone needed him! Ace concentrated as hard as he could. He needed to wake up, he wanted to wake up. To return to his brothers. He had to thank Marco for saving him. He had to wake up so he could fight with Luffy over food and drive Dadan insane and make Garp made with their dreams of becoming pirates. He just had to!

* * *

A soft groan had Sabo and Luffy's full attention. They stared at Ace intently, afraid that they may have imagined it.

"His eye twitched!" Sabo cheered as he saw the signs of their brother trying to wake up. "Come on, Ace, wake up."

"Wake up, Ace!" Luffy cheered, hoping it would encourage his older brother to open his eyes. Another groan slipped past Ace's lips.

"Yes, that's it, wake up. We need you here!" Sabo went on.

"Hey, what's going on in here, yoi?" Marco said, walking into the sick bay. They could hear the boy's yelling all the way in the kitchen.

"You should be more mindful of the injured," Thatch said coming in behind Marco.

"Ace is trying to wake up!" Sabo shouted, not caring about being reprimanded for being loud.

"Ace! Ace!" Luffy cheered when Ace's fingers started to twitch. Marco and Thatch both saw it and grinned.

"Come on, Ace," Marco coaxed. "We're all waiting for you."

"Yeah, wake up, Ace," Thatch put in. "I'll show you some really good pranks."

* * *

Ace could hear them! He could finally hear them! He just needed to open his eyes. They felt so heavy, just like they did when his narcolepsy hit but he didn't care he needed to open his eyes. He needed to let them know he was there. He wanted to return to them. He had never wanted something as badly as he did now.

Another groan passed his lips and it sounded loud in his own ears. Mentally gritting his teeth he put all the strength he had into forcing his eyes open. It was hard and it took some time but finally, finally they fluttered open, letting in the blinding light. He groaned again, bringing a tired arm over his eyes to block the light. It felt so hard to move but he was alive and he was awake and that's all that mattered.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted. "Thank goodness…" Luffy's voice sounded watery in Ace's ears. Maybe it was because Luffy was crying, he couldn't tell until he felt rubbery arms wrap around him and wet tears falling on him.

"C-cr-" Ace tried to speak but his voice cracked and strained from disuse. A second weight was suddenly on his chest and he knew it was Sabo.

"You had us worried sick!" the blond scolded but Ace could hear the relief in his voice.

"Easy there," Thatch said trying to pull the boys off. Ace shook his head, letting them know that he didn't want his brothers pulled off of him.

* * *

Luffy wouldn't let go of his brother and Sabo was right on top of both of them. They needed this closeness thought never one of the older boys would admit to it or say it out loud. Sabo and Luffy had been so scared of never seeing their big brother again. The trio vaguely noticed Marco and Thatch leave the room but it wasn't long after that they came back with the doctor and a cup of water for Ace.

Reluctantly Luffy and Sabo realized their hold on their brother to give the doctor some room to work. Thatch helped Ace sit up to drink his water while Marco stood back with the boys and the doctor checked Ace's vitals.

"You're looking in good health," the doctor said after a while as he checked the wounds. "Now just to check to make sure the coma didn't do any damage."

"What do you mean yoi?" Marco asked, looking concerned once more.

"It's not uncommon for those who have gone into a coma to experience memory problems," he explained before turning to Ace once more and giving him an encouraging smile. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Portgas D. Ace," Ace told him looking bored.

"How old are you?"

"Ten."

"What island do you live on?"

"Dawn Island."

"Mother's name?"

"… Rouge," Ace said hesitantly, knowing what the next would probably be. "Don't bother asking about my father, I never meet the man." The doctor just nodded in acceptance, picking up that it was a touchy subject."

"Last question. Do you remember why you're here on this ship?" he asked.

"I was hurt by that bear," Ace admitted. "Marco brought me here…" he looked over to the man in question and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me, yoi," Marco said smiling lazily. He was just happy that Ace was alive and well.

"I guess we should go tell Pops the good news," Thatch said finally with a huge smile planted on his face.

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered while Sabo nodded.

After his examination Ace refused to stay in bed any longer. After a lot of arguing and yelling Marco convinced to the doctor to allowed Ace out on deck as long as he was taking it easy and not running around. After a little more arguing they settled on setting up a place for Ace to sit next to Pop's chair.

The trio ended up sitting there together finally eating their lunch and listening to stories about Whitebeard's earlier days as a pirate and captain of the Moby Dick. Thatch and the other commanders looked on with a smile. They had all been worried for Ace and were glad to see him finally awake. Marco and Haruta had left the ship to inform Ace's "family" that he was finally awake and to see if there was any more news about Sabo's father looking for him still.

Just the night before Whitebeard had expressed that he wanted to make the three boys his sons and take them out to sea but he wouldn't force them to go, it was a dissension they would have to make themselves. They just didn't know how to broach the subject with the kids. That was another factor as well. They had never had children so young on the ship before either and they were all more then aware that it would be dangerous for them if they did go. They were all growing attached to the three in such a short amount of time but in the end they couldn't force them to go. They also knew they would have to bring up the subject soon. They had already stayed on the island longer then they had intended already and would probably only be able to stay a few more days before they needed to get back out to sea, The Grand Line was calling to them and who were they to ignore such a call.

* * *

Three day away in the East Blue...

"When do you think we'll arrive, Captain Smoker?" Tashigi asked, adjusting her glasses.

The white haired captain took a long drag from the two cigars that were in his mouth as he thought about the assignment had had been given my Admiral Sengoku himself. He wasn't sure that he really agreed with it. Killing children didn't really suit his justice at all.

"Three days," he replied to his subordinate who was still waiting for an answer. "We shouldn't be long."

"Yes, sir," she said with a salute before going back to her spot on deck.

They would just have to see how it played out in the end.

* * *

**AN: there you have it ^^ I hope you enjoyed reading it and see I told you I wouldn't make Ace suffer too long but now he's got an even bigger problem O.O wonder what's gonna happen... XD**


End file.
